Former TNI BAIS Head: Acid Attack on Andrie Yunus Not an Intelligence Operation, Just Misconduct

Jakarta - Former Head of the Indonesian National Armed Forces’ Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS TNI), Lieutenant Junior Grade (Retired) Soleman B. Ponto, stated that the actions of the four defendants in dousing KontraS activist Andrie Yunus with acid constituted misconduct, not a military or intelligence operation. This was revealed by Soleman B. Ponto as a military expert witness in the trial at the Military Court II-08 Jakarta on Thursday (7/5/2026). “So if you look at it, this is not an intelligence operation at all. If I were the BAIS head at that time, or if I were their superior now, I would only see it as misconduct. We would view it as misconduct,” Ponto said during the hearing. According to Ponto, intelligence operations are not based on spontaneous, emotional actions carried out individually without command. “Because for us, intelligence operations do not leave traces. They are trained for; the personnel are selected, and we train every six months. Why? Because the goal is the strategic interests of the state,” he explained. Previously, four Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) personnel were charged with dousing KontraS Deputy Coordinator Andrie Yunus with acid in central Jakarta. The four defendants are Sergeant Two Edi Sudarko, First Lieutenant Budhi Hariyanto Widhi, Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetya, and First Lieutenant Sami Lakka. The motive for the defendants’ acid attack was offence taken at Andrie Yunus’s storming of the TNI Bill meeting at the Fairmont Jakarta Hotel on 16 March 2025. The four defendants are charged with multiple articles, namely Article 469 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code as the primary charge, Article 468 paragraph (1) as subsidiary, and Articles 467 paragraphs (1) and (2) as further subsidiary, in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of Law Number 1 of 2023.